For the week of Sept 25 - Oct 1, 2002

Hailey spikers make it to title match in tourney

Place second in WR Invitational

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It’s been six long years since the Wood River High School volleyball team earned a berth in the championship match of its own tournament, held each September in Hailey.

That drought ended Saturday when 3A Wood River battled the 1A Hillcrest Knights of Idaho Falls in the final match of the 10-team, 22nd annual Wood River Invitational.

Wood River players celebrate a winner last week. From left, Natalie Green, Syringa Stark, Jessica King, Rachael Richards, Kelsea Ballantyne and Liz Rippon. Express photo by David N. Seelig

Hillcrest, boasting seven girls 5-11 or taller on its 12-player varsity roster, had too much firepower for the shorter Wolverines and carried home a 21-15, 21-18 triumph—the third straight Wood River title for Hillcrest.

But it was a good day of volleyball for the Wolverines of first-year coach Tim Richards. They defeated two Boise 1A squads, Capital and Boise, to reach the championship.

And, making the All-Tournament team were two Wood River juniors—5-9 outside hitter Jessica King and 5-7 setter/opposite Emily Smith.

Smith and King were major factors as Wood River, third of five teams in Saturday’s preliminary pool play, defeated second-place Capital 21-17, 21-15 in the quarterfinal.

King (3 kills, 2 blocks) and 5-10 junior Natalie Green (2 kills, 2 blocks) led the way in the nip-and-tuck opening game.

Smith (10 service points) served 8 consecutive winners to open the second game and help Wood River to a 14-2 cushion. When Capital rallied back to 16-11, Smith scored 2 kills to take the wind out of the rally, served an ace and watched King make an important block to stop the Eagles.

Jessica King, Wood River junior, made the All-Tournament team along with teammate Emily Smith. Express photo by David N. Seelig

The next Wood River foe was Boise, a surprise winner over Pool A winner Eagle in the quarterfinals. On the Boise team was former Hailey player Kasey Monteith, a 6-1 senior. But the Wolverines were too tough and sent Boise home 21-10, 21-14.

It was a 10-10 game when Natalie Green stepped to the serving stripe. She dished out 10 straight winners, finishing the streak with an ace for a 20-10 Hailey lead. Kelsea Ballantyne contributed 3 huge kills and Smith added 3 kills for the winners.

The second game was a total team effort as seven different Wolverines hammered winners at the net. Green led the way, again, with 5 kills and 4 blocks. Her defense kept countless balls alive. King served 6 winners including 2 aces.

Wood River was fortunate that it wasn’t on the other side of the bracket—where reigning State A1 champion Centennial, Hillcrest and five-time defending State A3 champion Bear Lake were installed.

Bear Lake knocked off the rebuilding Centennial spikers. Then Hillcrest, still without a state title but hoping to build upon last year’s State A-1 third-place finish, sent Bear Lake home in a rematch of last year’s Wood River Invitational title match.

But Hillcrest was too strong for Wood River as well. Other contributors for the Wolverines last weekend were Aubrey Kirtley, Charli Lindley, Christina Arpp, Liz Rippon, Syringa Stark and setter Rachael Richards.

Sharing the tournament MVP award were last year’s winner Krystal Peterson, Hillcrest’s 6-0 senior outside hitter, and her senior teammate Aliesha Cromwell, a 5-8 OH.

Those players joining Smith and King on the 2002 All-Tournament team were Boise‘s Monteith, 5-9 Centennial junior Kelli Adams, 5-10 Eagle junior OH Drew Choules and Bear Lake senior Katie Cammack.

In pool play, Wood River downed Boise 15-13, 15-9 and Weiser 15-14, 15-12. The Wolverines dropped preliminaries to pool winner Eagle 15-10, 15-8 and Bear Lake 15-8, 15-8.

Wood River’s promising JV also competed in last weekend’s tournament and did well. They lost all their games in pool play, then faced Boise in the tournament. Boise held off the young Wolverines 21-18, 21-9.

 

Recent matches

Learning from a pair of disappointing home losses last week, Wood River stayed focused and put it together at its own tournament.

For instance, the Declo Hornets played excellent defense and rallied past Wood River 18-21, 21-18, 16-21, 21-19, 16-14 in an exciting, down-to-the-wire Sawtooth Central Idaho Coniference match last Tuesday.

Wood River led 8-2 in the deciding game but the Hornets stormed back on the serving of junior Melissa Webb. For the match, King had 8 kills and 11 service points, Green 9 kills, Richards 7 service points.

Thursday, Highland of Pocatello downed Wood River 18-21, 21-14, 21-12, 21-12. Charli Lindley accounted for 6 kills, Green 4 blocks.

Starting Tuesday at highly-regarded Buhl (6-2), Wood River faces a tough stretch of four league matches in seven days—plus the always-challenging Bonneville/Hillcrest tourney Friday and Saturday, Sept. 27-28 in Idaho Falls.

Wood River hosts Kimberly Thursday, Sept. 26 in Hailey. Coach Richards hopes to have senior setter Whitney Richards, rehabbing her knee injury, back by Oct. 1.

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WOLVERINE NOTES—For the last six years, the Wood River Invitational has been dominated by 2000-02 champion Hillcrest and 1997-99 champion Bear Lake of Montpelier.

In those six years the Wolverines have gotten close but have fallen short of the title match. They were ousted by Capital last year, by Bear Lake in 2000, Boise in 1999, Bear Lake in 1998 and Hillcrest in 1997.

Wood River’s last title match appearance was in 1996, when All-Tournament Summer Hanson was a senior and Summer Williams a junior. They lost in the final to Bonneville of Idaho Falls. It was Wood River’s fifth straight title match appearance in its own tourney. The Wolverines won it three straight years, from 1993-95.

 

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